A Supreme Court decision last month will reportedly weaken powers of the Environmental Protection Agency when it comes to enforcing the Clean Water Act.
A report last month from the Chesapeake Bay Program’s Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee states that after 40 years of trying, efforts to “restore” the bay to health are lagging far behind timelines.
Everywhere we read of failures to keep plastics and runoff out of the water, and to keep oxygen in the water. Individuals and some entities try as hard as they can, but an estimated 18 million people (NOAA) live in the bay’s watershed, and the pressure to preserve and restore clean waters is immense.
Success stories include a rebound in healthy oyster populations, a bright spot in a species that once seemingly teetered on the edge of extinction. The crab population in the bay is up this year. On the other hand, rockfish, also known as striped bass, have come under new harvest restrictions up and down the Atlantic Coast. Every pro ...